Paradise
by Lovedrr
Summary: "Lost on an uncharted island, the soldier must use unusual methods to save the spy…" Inspired by an image of Natasha Romanoff at Marvel Swimsuit Special Vol 1 #3 (1994). After the events of the movie Captain America: The Winter Soldier. No Spoilers. Part of my 'pic-fics' series! The image can be viewed on my tumblr Lovedrr tagged 'pic-fics'. (Romanogers)
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended.

Note: The image can be better viewed on my tumblr Lovedrr tagged 'pic-fics', post #98729526775. Image source: Marvel Swimsuit Special Vol 1 #3 (1994).

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><p><strong>Paradise<strong>

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><p>Cold.<p>

Freezing cold.

It was the first sensation he recognized. Although he retained no conscious memory of being frozen in ice all those years, Steve Rogers could remember the way he felt when the doctors were waking him up.

And it had felt a lot like this.

Yet, this was a little different. Even though there was ice all around him, he could still manage a small range of motion. He moved his head slightly, and caught sight of a particular shade of auburn that he knew he would recognize even if he was blind.

Steve turned his head to see… Natasha… trapped in the ice with him. She was beside him, her eyes closed with her arms outstretched over her sides, almost as if in a cross position. Her lovely face almost seemed serene and peaceful as glints of sunlight sparkled off the ice around her eyes.

However, there was nothing peaceful or serene about this situation. They were in freezing ice. His body could probably withstand it, but no matter what derivative of his serum she had been given, he knew that hers wasn't designed to handle this.

The super soldier's body went into overdrive.

Steve's eyes focused.

Suddenly, on top of the ice lake surface above them, a large section of the ice was shattered into a million pieces. It almost seemed as if a bomb had exploded under the surface. Steve's blonde hair and blue uniform rose almost majestically out of the ice, the crystals falling down around him almost as if in slow motion. He quickly stepped up onto the frozen solid surface, pulling his mighty shield with him.

He knew he wouldn't need it.

Dropping the shield and raising both hands up above his head in a power fist, Steve swung down in a single powerful strike. The surface of the lake bed shattered again, this time resounding with massive cracking sounds as the elements gave way beneath Steve's strength.

Then, he reached down and wrapped his arms under Natasha's shoulders to carefully pull her up.

The spy immediately began to stir, and she suddenly looked up at him in confusion as she took in their surroundings.

"Steve?" she asked in surprise. "Where are we? What… What's going on?"

"Just hold onto me," he said quickly.

Steve's heart rose within his chest at Natasha's reaction. Without hesitation, she turned and wrapped her arms around his neck and held on tightly. The Black Widow didn't trust many people, if anyone at all. The way she responded to his voice in the midst of uncertainty gave him a glimpse of what he meant to her. From Natasha, this act of trust was monumental.

"Keep holding on," he whispered as she drew one of her pistols from its side holster and held it at the ready as she again checked their surroundings.

Sliding one arm under her thighs and the other around her waist, Steve began to sprint the short distance over to the shore. Just as he set foot on the snowy shore, he heard the loud clack of the gun dropping onto the ice.

Still floating in his arms, Natasha held up her hand and looked at it. It was shaking almost uncontrollably and quickly turning a light shade of blue. She couldn't feel her fingers.

"St… Steve," she whispered as she looked at him. "Hypothermia."

"I'm on it," he responded with haste.

The super soldier carried the spy a short way up a small hill near the frozen lake close to a forest area. Sweeping his feet under them, he cleared off a wide circle of space beneath them and lowered her down in its center. His analytical mind took note of the fact that the snow covering the ground was only light and breezy, almost like a cluster of lone snowflakes. It should have been much more rigid if the temperature was cold enough to freeze the lake completely through. He filed that information away for later and leapt back into action.

He sprinted back down to the lake and retrieved his shield and her gun. Then, he ran back toward Natasha. When he reached the shoreline, he drew back and swung his mighty shield in a wide arc. The powerful disc impacted off one tree beside the clearing and then ricocheted off two others in a semi-circle before swinging back to Steve's hand. He caught it and maintained his smooth stride up the hill. Each of the three trees had been split perfectly, and their severed top halves landed in front of Natasha in a near perfect crossing patten. Reaching them, Steve quickly scraped his shield hard across the wood, instantly igniting a small fire. He then fanned the flames to give them strength. Surprisingly, the atmosphere wasn't very frigid, but he couldn't let Natasha's condition get any worse. He had no idea how long they had been under that ice.

The spy looked up at him and managed a smile. Her body was shaking and trembling uncontrollably, and she couldn't feel her own skin at all. Her lips were trembling and her muscles were clenching, and she used her arms to cover herself in an attempt to generate what little warmth she could.

It wasn't working. She was freezing. She was fairly certain that it wasn't life-threatening, but it was extremely unpleasant.

Steve was more worried than Natasha. After making certain that the fire would endure, he stepped over to Natasha and sat down behind her, extending his legs out on either side of her and pressing his thighs against her waist.

He then leaned forward and wrapped his large arms tightly around her, drawing her firmly back into him and enveloping her small frame. He held Natasha's trembling body close and tight, trying to add his warmth to her own.

"St… Steve?" Natasha whispered quickly.

"Yeah?" he answered.

"Not … working," she said through teeth that were nearly chattering. "We … We need … shared bodily warmth. Like … survival … training."

He had already thought about that. He just hadn't planned on suggesting it.

"Right," he answered quickly, standing up behind her.

Despite all her trained detachment, which she had been slowly trying to lose in favor of attempting to live something of a normal life, she had to fight to resist the urge to turn around. All reports stated that the super soldier was absolutely the perfection of the human male species. Natasha was a deadly assassin, but Natalia was still the woman inside her, and contrary to popular opinion, she did sometimes feel some measure of womanly desire. She had been feeling much more of these intermittent pulsing desires ever since the first day that this gorgeous man had been brought back to the world. She didn't want to embarrass Steve, but she was totally certain that he wouldn't have anything to be ashamed of. Still, the thought of his discomfort more than anything else kept her from ogling him.

Steve stripped off his suit and hurriedly sat it down next to the fire to warm. With only a little hesitation that he hoped she didn't notice, he again sat down behind her and reached forward to grab her uniform zipper to pull it all the way down past her navel. The spy hurriedly shimmied her arms out of the top of the uniform and let it fall past her shoulders. She then pushed it down to her waist. The slender spy leaned to her side and waited for Steve to follow through. They had become flawless partners over time, learning each other's hints and clues and responding without fail. After only a moment's hesitation, she felt his large strong hands pulling the garment down over her waist. The redhead shimmied her hips to help slide it down to her thighs, and then she leaned forward to slip off her boots and the rest of the uniform. With her hands still shaking profusely, she leaned forward again to finish undressing.

Natasha suppressed a slight gasp as she felt Steve's large muscular arm slip underneath her thighs. Bracing her slim back against his broad chest, the soldier lifted her as if she had only the weight of a mere leave and was a delicate as a flower. She watched him spread his heated uniform below them before he lowered her back down to the ground so gently that she barely felt it. The warmth of it did very little to help her condition.

After a few more moments, Natasha felt the hard, hot, and heavenly feel of his glorious pectorals pressing against her back. Noting that she didn't shy away from their skin to skin contact, Steve slid forward and enveloped her chilled body. He raised his knees up, and kept her thighs set between them. Then, he wrapped his muscular arms all the way around her torso and placed his hands over her own on her shoulders.

She could just start to feel the warmth emanating from his enhanced metabolism which always kept his skin heated. He held her close and tight, and although the spy felt vulnerable and exposed since she had no control over the motor functions of her freezing body, she reluctantly accepted the safety and comfort of his arms.

The spy had always felt so cold inside, and the soldier's warmth seemed a perfect counterbalance for her. They held each other for several long moments.

Being this close to Natasha, which had unwittingly happened in his dreams far more times than he cared to admit, Steve was surprisingly able to control his mind and keep it from wandering, but controlling his body was a different matter entirely. He had felt a slight arousal, despite the cold, when he had helped her to undress, and he had told himself that surely there would be no increase of this given their situation. Having her soft, velvety skin against his own, it seemed, proved to be too much. Unable to use his legs to restrain his anatomy, he had carefully tried to tuck himself low under her, hoping not to cause an issue.

That hope was fading fast. She just felt too tender, too vulnerable, too good. He felt movement below. He sincerely hoped she wouldn't notice.

No such luck.

"Wow," breathed the sexy redhead with a smile in her voice. "Even this cold doesn't stop your metabolism?"

"What?" asked Steve.

"Well, is that a shield in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"

"Oh! I'm sorry, Natasha," Steve said quickly, starting to slide himself back from her. "Sorry about that. I…"

"No. No. It's okay, Steve," she told him, taking a firm hold of his fingers to keep his arms around her. "I'm just joking. It's okay. Really. I'm just feeling drowsy from the cold and I'm trying not to pass out. I'll take it as a compliment."

Steve hesitated for a long moment before he relented. "Okay, if you're sure?"

"I'm sure," she looked back up at him to show him her smile. "You shouldn't be embarrassed. You certainly have nothing to be ashamed of. It's just a physical reaction. I understand."

"I… I don't mean to offend you, you know?"

"You can't offend me, Steve," she said comfortingly. "I've gotten to know you a little over the years. I'm good with you."

The two of them gazed into one another's eyes for a long moment. Both of them glanced down at the other's lips, but kept themselves from moving forward. After a short tenseness, they let the moment pass, and snuggled into one another again.

Their little awkwardness had produced a surprising effect. They felt closer to each other, even more comfortable, sharing a unique intimacy together. Natasha drew a deep breath and laid her head back, allowing him to lay his cheek against her own. They stayed that way for a long time, both of them deriving more comfort from this closeness than they had imagined.

"You rest. I'll keep watch," Steve said quietly as he watched her eyelids flutter.

"Where are we and what are we doing here, Steve?" the spy drowsily wondered aloud.

"We're going to find out. Rest now," he said comfortingly.

Steve watched as her lovely face slumped against his cheek. Instinctively, he drew her even closer, holding her more tightly to keep her warm. He knew that she was going to be fine. It was morning, and the rays of the sun seemed to be heating up the atmosphere almost unusually fast. He decided he would put the fire out soon. At this rate, it would be a strangely scorching day.

The analytical soldier evaluated their surroundings. The locale was actually quite beautiful, perhaps the most idyllic scenery he had ever laid eyes on in all his travels. In the process of defrosting, the lake was sparkling like a diamond as the sunlight fell over it. The snow was a pure gleaming white, unlike any he had ever seen before. The air was crisp and clear, and his heightened senses deduced that it was devoid of the normal pollution of everyday life. This place seemed like something out of a dream.

Wherever they were, they seemed to be safe for now. The only thing he had to be concerned about … was the beautiful woman in his arms. He held her close and tight, trying to warm her body ... and her heart.

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><p>Some time later, Natasha's eyes sprang open suddenly as she sat up with a gasp.<p>

"Steve!" she cried out.

Her chest was heaving as she tried to catch her breath and her skin was flushed and sweaty. She hurriedly looked around her to get her bearings.

She was in some kind of a small tent. Steve had either found shelter for them or had erected it himself from survival things he had gathered. She knew that he was a very resourceful man. While her ingenuity had been learned and practiced, she greatly admired his natural ability to overcome any obstacle placed before him. It was just one of the many things about him which stirred this reluctant attraction within her.

The spy tried not to admit to herself how much she missed the feel of him around her. She couldn't stop thinking about the way he had touched her. He had held her as if she were his most precious jewel or his most treasured gift. Steve had always had a captivating manner about him which she had tried to resist. With her, he had exhibited the perfect combination of the chivalrous gentleman and the manly brute. While the reputation of The Black Widow caused most men to fear to even speak to her or much less touch her, the soldier had never hesitated to manhandle her. He had shown no reticence when he had draped her over his hip to escape an exploding bomb, when he had slammed her against the wall in the hospital, when he had crushed her body against his own as he had thrown them out of a crashing car, or when he had held her protectively against him as an entire army base had exploded around them. The spy often had to try to not think about just how much her skin liked his touch.

Right now, her skin was burning up. The noon day temperature felt like it had to be near one hundred degrees. In her travels, she had been all over most parts of the world, and she had learned to gauge temperatures fairly well. It seemed almost impossible to have been cold enough to freeze a lake earlier and now be hot enough to boil an egg in the sun.

The garments covering her didn't help her situation. The chivalrous soldier had left her with his uniform over her and her worksuit underneath her, effectively providing a makeshift bed for her to sleep on. The spy couldn't suppress a grin. The man knew how adept she was at combat, how she had a high threshold of pain, and how formidable she was in battle, and yet he still went out of his way to try to make her feel like some kind of princess. Things like this could make it difficult for her to remember to keep him at a distance.

Well, she certainly wouldn't need this clothing in this heat if she didn't want to pass out from either dehydration or exhaustion. With a deft skill, the spy slipped a knife out of her uniform and began to cut it apart. She decided she would leave the spare material in good enough condition to be used as protection against the elements if needed. As she worked quickly, she could hear his approach off in the distance.

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><p>Steve walked around the far edge of the lake toward the tent slowly. His search had found no sign of communications, but he had found many indications of previous life there. The trip had turned into a scavenger hunt. There had been many useful things left laying around everywhere, from poles already tied together to large scraps of cloth to even some scuba gear which had been left behind.<p>

He had made certain to erect a small protection for Natasha before journeying farther, making a precise mental map of their environment. The temperature of the day had quickly risen to a scalding heat, and he had made his last and farthest circle of the area in just his waist combat undergarment and his shield. Natasha would need some food to fully regain her strength now, and he was anxious to get back to her.

To his surprise, she was already up and moving, seemingly in near perfect health as she walked out of the tent and made her way down toward him. Steve gazed up at her as he walked up from the lakeside, and his mouth involuntarily fell open.

Her beauty was stunning as she walked down toward him. She had made short work of her uniform. It was now made into a kind of makeshift bra top, leaving as much of her torso exposed to the air as possible. Her thin, well toned athletic waist was also open, but the heat still caused a light sheen of sweat to make her body glisten in the sunlight. She wore her black underwear underneath a wrap of her uniform which she had tied around her as a kind of towel dress. Her slim legs and feet were bare as she walked with perfect balance on the uneven sand toward him.

Steve couldn't take his eyes off of her. Natasha was stunningly gorgeous like this. The sight of her was more captivating than all the beautiful coastlines in the world.

When he spoke, his voice gave her pause. He didn't speak to her like a soldier talks to a comrade, or as a partner talks to a sidekick, or even as friends address one another. He spoke to her … the way a man speaks to a woman.

"I knew you would look terrible in a bikini," he said in a husky whisper.

Natasha was unable to find her voice. Her lips moved slightly, but no sound issued from them. She inaudibly cleared her throat and then tried again.

"Thank you, Steve," she said warmly. "For taking care of me. I owe you again."

With those words, she stepped forward and leaned up to kiss his cheek. Steve stepped toward her and leaned down, turning his head slightly.

The kiss she had intended for his cheek… touched the side of his mouth. Their lips brushed with a gentle, subtle contact, but neither of them pulled away. After a long moment, they finally stepped back, trying to ignore the obvious tension between them. She managed a brief smile to accommodate his awkward grin.

"You're welcome," Steve whispered intently.

Then, moving very slowly and deliberately, Steve stepped forward and leaned down toward her again. His large hands settled tentatively on her hips, just barely grazing her.

However, this time, their lips didn't graze at all. They kissed full on. Steve's lips moved against Natasha's firmly, and just this soft contact immediately opened up a world of desire for both of them. No matter how hard she tried not to, the spy was unable to resist the impulsive urge to open her mouth and deepen the intimacy of the moment. Their tongues touched and their breaths deepened. Her small hands found their way to rest on his firm broad chest before sliding upward over his shoulderblades to tangle in his golden hair. His hands then took a strong hold on her hips to draw her closer until her supple breasts pressed against his torso. After what seemed a moment too long and infuriatingly too short, they parted and stepped back from one another. Both of them were breathless and near panting, but they tried desperately not to let it show.

"How was your little … morning jog?" the spy said, a thinly veiled attempt to restore some semblance of normalcy to their relationship.

"Well, we're definitely alone on this island. No one in sight for miles. There are a lot of things left around from other inhabitants, but for now its completely deserted."

"So, what is this then?" Natasha asked with a wide grin. "Are you supposed to be Gilligan and I'm Mary Ann? Or are you the Professor and I'm Ginger?"

"What?" Steve said with a deadpan expression.

"It was a tv show called Gilligan's Island," she told him with bright eyes. "It was about seven castaways stranded on a deserted island and…"

"I know what it was," he cut her off firmly.

Natasha's happy gaze faltered under his stern tone. Then, his glare morphed into a boyish grin, and she smiled back at him. Unlike when she joked with him in the army base about the movie 'Wargames,' this time there was no danger around them, and they could enjoy the levity of the moment.

"Is there a way off this island or are we really marooned here?" she asked.

"There's a central cluster of islands off the coast. We have a better chance of finding comms there. You sure you're well enough to travel?"

"Try and keep up, super soldier," the spy said as she strode past him at a brisk pace. "Can you travel when they close the Smithsonian fossil exhibit?"

"That's hilarious," he said, unable to hold back a laugh.

This was going to be quite an adventure.

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><p>Notes:<p>

Thank you for reading this and I hope you enjoyed it! This idea was originally envisioned as the beginning of a much larger project, but I wanted to post it as a pic fic to find out if any readers would like to see more of this story. Please send me your thoughts and comments!

Also, please review the works of my dear friend and beta Ym4yum1! Her writing is excellent and she is a tremendous inspiration! You shall love her!

Thank you everyone!


	2. Chapter 2

The entire island was alive and vibrant. A strong and constant breeze rustled through the lively trees, all the streams and lakes continuously ebbed and flowed loudly, and the bristling foliage seemed to almost sing a beautiful song of life.

Natasha Romanoff wasn't sure if she was in the midst of the best moment of her life or the worst, but for her, it was certainly the most interesting. Steve Rogers was by her side, and he was directly the reason for her uncertainty. At the moment, they were traveling through a small, incredibly dense rain forest. The vines and shrubbery were thick and covered everything.

To her pleasing dismay, the soldier wouldn't let go of her as they moved. Despite her earlier bravado, the spy had almost immediately began to succumb to hypothermic aftereffects. As soon as they had neared the edge of the tree line, she had felt her body lose partial control of its motor functions, her limbs felt boneless and weak, and she had a migraine headache which was pounding so bad that her vision became blurred at times.

She was still coherent enough to take notice of the many useful items laying all over the ground as Steve had stated earlier. There were several axes, machetes and other bladed weapons laying at the edge of the forest. She glanced at her partner with a wry smile before leaning down and picking up a classic katana with an ornate case and handle. He grinned approvingly.

The Captain stared at the ground and forest warily. He knew that the previous travelers probably wouldn't have discarded their tools before entering the wooded area. The tactician filed this information away for later analysis.

Steve had also astutely taken notice of the decline in Natasha's condition instantly. When they had moved into the forest, he had slipped his right arm around her slim waist protectively. As they walked over the uneven forest floor, he would intermittently lift her off her feet without realizing it, his exorbitant strength almost carrying her with one hand. Using his shield in his left hand to continually move the forestry out of their path while she used her katana to cut away vines, he hardly ever moved his hand away from where he could snatch her up if she lost her balance in the slightest way.

Natasha didn't want to admit to herself that she found his treatment of her like this unnervingly pleasant. His being the only man on the planet not afraid to touch her without reservation was always a welcome problem for her, but this circumstance was very different from the other times he had physically handled her. In this sweltering heat, given their current state of undress, there was no clothing between their sweaty naked skins. She noticed every touch of his fingers on her waist.

Steve tried hard to focus on the journey ahead of them. His primary concern was taking care of Natasha, but he was honestly having a hard time staying on point. As he held her side, his perfect senses instantly memorized every line, curve and contour of her hips. He knew that the best way to not agitate her was to not show his distraction.

His mind tried not to think about the kiss. He had probably been a little too forward. It was very easy to inadvertently push the spy away, and that was the antithesis of what he intended. He had missed her after last seeing her at the cemetery a year ago, and not a day had passed without his thinking of her.

The spy's mind was filled with similar thoughts. She didn't like to think of how often she had thought of the soldier over the last year. Just the fact that she had to remind herself that the American hero and the Russian spy could not be together in the eyes of the world was a sign of his infiltration of her. Never before in her life had she found herself fighting to keep a man out of her thoughts.

It had been wrong of her to return the kiss he had given her earlier on the shore. She had accepted long ago that the two of them simply could not be together. He was the paragon of virtue and she was the princess of deception. Still, in that moment, after the words he'd said to her, the latent woman inside had been unable to turn away from him.

As they neared a small rushing stream, the spy's keen eyes looked down to search the area for any signs of venomous predators. Without warning, her feet were suddenly no longer touching the ground as her body was lifted into the air. The cold hearted warrior's face immediately broke into a heated scowl which could burn the skin off of an opponent, but then, she looked at Steve and her anger quickly dissipated.

His eyes were carefully searching the stream for any signs of snakes, scorpions, alligators or any other dangerous animals just as she had done. It seemed as if he had barely noticed sweeping her up into his strong arms, as if taking care of her was simply a foregone conclusion for him. Any other man in the world would be laying on the ground right now with her boot on his throat for handling her like this, but from Steve, it was impossibly endearing to her. Unnoticed, she shook her head in feigned exasperation.

Clearing the stream after a few strides, the soldier continued to trek forward. With his arm holding his shield under her thighs and his other around her waist, he seemed perfectly content to simply carry her as he now used his back and the shield to move the foliage aside for them to pass through. There was no way that the spy could let them continue like this. It felt far too comfortable, too good and too ... right.

"Was that your idea of the proverbial 'carrying the girl over the puddle?'" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I didn't have a jacket with me to lay down over it," Steve replied as he slowed down to lower her to her feet.

As he stopped, Natasha caught the slight sound of a low grumble from his stomach, and her lithe fingers grazed his perfect six pack abdominal muscles.

"You need to eat, Steve," she told him. "You need your strength for your metabolism. The fruits and vegetables you brought for me earlier aren't going to be enough for you," she said with concern evident in her voice.

"We both need to eat," he responded as he set her down on her feet. "Let's take a detour and head over to the shore."

After walking for a large part of the day at a strong pace, stopping only to allow Natasha to rest, eat and refresh intermittently, the two of them broke through the edge of the forest onto a beautiful open shoreline.

They immediately moved like a team. The soldier headed toward the ocean to gather fish while the spy began to look around at the containers strewn over the area for suitable cooking utensils.

"Hey, Sailor!" she called as she threw one of her pocket knives to him.

Steve caught it without breaking his stride. He opened the knapsack he used to carry their supplies and laid out their clothes as sitting areas before he stepped into the water. Natasha was only just setting down the containers she'd gathered to start a fire when the first large fish smacked on top of his outstretched uniform. Several others followed so quickly that it almost seemed to be raining sea life. In just seconds, the soldier was walking back up the shore toward her. The spy stood and glared at him with her trademark grin.

"I assume you're being modest," she asked.

"What?" he answered with a quiet laugh, already recognizing the quirk in her cheeks she showed whenever she regaled him with her dry wit and dark humor which he always found so charming.

"I've studied your file implicitly, Cap," she told him. "Your metabolism needs to consume a lot more food than this."

"I wasn't sure you could handle cooking more than this," he said sweetly.

"Stand down, Soldier," the saucy spy said with confidence. "I will not only prepare our meal but i will beat your fishing record."

"Be my guest," he replied with a smile, enjoying the challenge.

The spy slid past him smoothly, staring up into his eyes with her tantalizing raised eyebrow. As always, deception was her forte. While the direct soldier was focused on the primary challenge, he hadn't realized the secondary opportunity she intended to take advantage of.

Steven Grant Rogers was more man than any of the male species that she had ever come into contact with on the planet, and yet he had proven to be more immune to her feminine wiles than any other. She didn't like to be ogled by men, as most of their intentions toward her had always been dark and tainted. None of them had lived long enough to touch her, but her deceptions had left her with a deep seated repulsion toward most male attention.

Only this man had changed that for her. After meeting him for the first time, she slowly began to realize that she desired him to notice her. For once, she actually wanted to draw a man's attention. Ironically, the one man she wanted had also been the one man which thought too highly of her to seem to desire her in such a primal way. She eventually caught on to the fact that the perceptive tactician and analyst did notice very minute details about her which all others missed, but she still hadn't affected him in the ways she distracted other men.

Just her luck. Well, it was time to change that.

As she walked toward the water, she easily slipped her slender feet out of her boots and left them behind her. Glancing over her shoulder, the sexy agent slowly began to untie the piece of his uniform she had been using as a wrap around her waist. Adding a little extra twist in her hips, she shimmied out of it and didn't bother to flatten out her underwear which had slid into a thong. Stealing a more subtle glance back at him again, she could feel his eyes boring into her skin. He was watching her intently.

Steve didn't realize that he had stopped breathing until he inadvertently swallowed. He couldn't stop staring at Natasha. The stunning picture of the female physique she presented was captivating beyond words. He had always been an ass man, and the gently rounded contours of her backside were more perfect than his mind had ever imagined. His military regulation boxes suddenly felt three sizes too small. The horizon of the glorious ocean was a lovely backdrop to the scenery, but it paled in comparison to her.

Gauging his subtle but obvious reaction, the woman Natalia felt more triumphant elation that the spy Black Widow had ever experienced after her most successful mission. She had finally gotten him.

She was shocked out of her victory at the first touch of the ocean water on her legs. It wasn't overly frigid, but just its slightly cold temperature exacerbated her hypothermic effects. Her body suddenly felt weak and ill with a thin constant tremble plaguing her nerves.

The Black Widow didn't let her frailty show. Drawing her katana from its sheath, she swiftly began to gather fish. She was soon tossing them on top of the pile he had gathered, but at only a little more than half the speed of the super soldier. Less than a minute later, she stopped, put her sword away, and turned to stare at him with her hands on her hips.

"You're a terrible gloater," she told him as she started to walk out of the water.

"Thanks for the fish," the super soldier mused. "If that's what you want to call fishing."

The snarky spy glared up at him, wishing that she didn't find him so damn charming.

"Come here," The Captain ordered as he walked over and picked up her wrap.

Before she could protest, he had stopped in front of her and dropped to one knee. Taking her right calf firmly in his large hand, he lifted her slender leg and positioned her foot against his hip. He quickly began to dry off her leg with the cloth, moving from her foot to her upper thigh.

Natasha tried not to notice the rise in her heart beat, the way her pulse started racing, or the heat which stirred inside her belly. Having this gorgeous adonis of a man, on one knee in front of her, his face inches from her lower body, his powerful muscles undulating as she intently watched, showering her with attention like this, almost felt intoxicating and surreal. The perceptive and astute analyst must have noticed her strain in the water, and he had responded intently. He remained focused on his mission to see to her needs, and his apparent disregard of the sensual effect he was having on her only intensified the experience. With loving care, he lowered her right leg and then raised her left, drying the water from it with even more attentiveness. Although her balance was perfect, the spy couldn't resist the subtle opportunity to place her fingers on the rock solid muscles of his tense shoulderblades, and the sensation of his hot sweaty power under her hands almost made her come undone.

If she had thought Steve was the vindictive type, Natasha would have wondered if he was striking back at her for the improvised striptease she had just bestowed upon him.

Then, he lowered her foot and stood up over her to take her waist in one arm, and all thoughts slipped away from her. As they both sat down and worked together to prepare their meal, the two of them found comfort in their close proximity.

Although they could easily relax in a calm silence together, the friendly banter which the couple had developed over the last few years had always kept them steadily growing closer. Even though she also used it to keep them apart by trying to set him up on dates, it hadn't prevented them from getting to know each other better. Right now, she needed to use business to distance herself from him.

"How do you think we ended up in that ice?" she asked him as they began to eat.

"I've been considering that," the soldier told her. "What's the last thing you remember?"

"I was in London following some ex-KGB officials which may have been secretly funding 2R, the organization that created The Black Widow operatives. Where were you?"

"Kiev, Russia. I wanted to see some of the former KGB labs where The Winter Soldier had been held. I investigated some of the places where the mind control experiments took place and destroyed what was left of them."

"I was going to contact you soon, Steve," Natasha admitted as she stared over at him, wondering why this felt like some kind of confession. "I may have been on the trail of some hidden connections between Hydra and 2R."

"I shouldn't have let you go that day at the cemetery," he told her as he gazed back at her. "I knew i was going to need your help. We should have stayed together."

After this, they ate in silence for some time before gathering their supplies and moving out to resume their course. The brilliant tactician easily deduced a path to direct them back toward their objective. Soon, they were once again carefully making their way through the dense forest.

The day began to pass quickly as they traveled. After a while, they took notice of a clearing just a few yards ahead. With a few skillful swings, the foliage fell away as the two of them stepped out of the forest to find another beautiful lake in front of them.

At that moment, a thunderous strike of lightning so powerful that it lit up the sky boomed around them. It's power reverberated in the very atmosphere. It seemed unnatural.

The brilliant soldier looked up at the sky warily, staring intently to discern any signs of danger. The spy did the same, her keen mind searching for any clues which may present themselves. Another massive thunderstrike resounded, this time closer, sounding more like an explosion than an act of nature.

There was something very wrong here.

"Has our being here upset God or something?" she said as she looked at him with a grin.

"This isn't Him," Steve answered coldly, his eyes continuing to intently stare up at the sky.

Dark clouds quickly began to gather above them, and pouring rain immediately began to fall from under them. Several spiking sparks of lightning started to strike down on the ground not too far from them, tearing up dirt in their wake.

With a slow, intentful unison, the soldier and the spy moved together. Steve raised his shield, forming a protective barrier against the heavens. Natasha walked to him carefully and intently, positioning herself underneath his arm. She placed her hands on his broad chest while his right arm protectively wrapped around her back and pulled her tight against him. They pressed together closely. The two of them kept their gazes fixed on the sky in their intimate unison, but neither failed to notice the warm heat and subtle caress of their skin against one another. Being close like this comforted both of them.

Suddenly, a wide spark of lightning struck the lake right in front of them and held for several seconds, its energy heating the air around them. Then, the waters burst forth in a massive shower, covering everything in the clearing.

The soldier only angled his shield slightly, still mindful of any bursts of electricity which would do far more harm to them than a wave of water. Steve needlessly held Natasha tighter as the glistening shower washed over them, instantly drenching their clothes and supplies.

After the wave had passed, they looked back at the lake to find it completely frozen solid. Side by side, they walked over to its edge and kneeled down to examine it.

"Is this how we got here?" the spy surmised.

"Maybe this is some kind of portal or conduit, perhaps a bridge between realms or something," said the tactician.

Their attention was drawn back to the sky by another crack of thunder, this one a much greater distance away from them. Just as suddenly as the clouds had appeared, they began to dissipate, revealing a quickly setting sun.

Sunset was upon them. The beautiful sky was darkening quickly. Along with the changing skyline came a chill which was strikingly strong and intense. Natasha inadvertently crossed her hands to rub her upper arms. In her post hypothermic state, the least amount of frigid temperature caused an immediate adverse reaction in her body. The cold almost felt as if it were burning her insides.

"The night chill is coming back," Steve said warily, his voice filled with concern for her.

"We should find cover," the spy replied, not showing just how rapidly her condition was declining.

"I know where we need to go," he said firmly. "Come on."

Taking a strong grip on her hand, Steve set off at a brisk pace with the spy in tow. He headed in a direction adjacent to their initial course toward the installation a few miles away. She stayed close, allowing him the comfort of gauging her condition in case he needed to wrap his arm around her again.

After several yards, the two of them broke through the edge of the forest wall to find a large rock face towering over them. There were small caves lining its structure, and many birds and colorful flying animals were already heading into its upper levels.

In perfect unison, the soldier and the spy moved together. Steve held his shield hooked on his left forearm as Natasha wrapped her slender arms over his neck and crossed her toned legs around his waist. The super soldier paused to run his hands along her legs to ensure that they were tight and secure around him, and the spy felt a burning heat where his strong hands slid over her muscles despite the cold air surrounding them. Steve had to give his mind a quick mental shake after touching her, not expecting the feel of her soft skin and firm thighs to be so distracting.

With her secured to his back, the athletic specimen jumped up two levels in a single bound and caught the edge of the third level above. He then skillfully free climbed up the equivalent of three stories before sliding up over the edge of a particularly thin cave.

"We should be good here," he said as he stood to his feet and let Natasha slide down from his back. "This cave is tight. It will act as a small buffer against the cold."

"There is a supply of wood already here," the spy observed as she stepped around him.

Steve walked forward and caught sight of a pile of wood and debris packed together. There were several pieces of driftwood, straw and small flammables laying around toward the rear of the cave. Natasha rubbed her arms again and shivered as he quickly walked over and got a strong bonfire lit in seconds.

"We should put on as much of our clothing as we can manage," he said quickly.

"I'd ... I'd rather take my chances with your metabolism," Natasha said quietly, feeling her body starting to shiver uncontrollably. "It all got wet again."

Steve quickly nodded his agreement. He had again surmised the same conclusion, but he hadn't wanted to suggest it. His keen senses took instant note of the paleness permeating her creamy skin, and he became more worried than he wanted her to know. With a skilled quickness, he laid out the clothes close to the fire to warm them and made a makeshift bed of them.

Sitting his shield alongside them as additional protection from the cold breezes, the diligent soldier sat down with his knees raised and extended his arms to help her down. The sexy spy slipped around the flickering fire slowly, carefully untying her weapons from her waist. In the dim lighting, it almost appeared as if she were undressing as she stepped closer to him, and he failed to notice that she had so captivated his attention that he was staring at her openly. His gorgeous blue eyes traveling over her body stirred a gentle heat in her center, and she sexily reached a hand up to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear as he watched.

Placing her hands in his, Natasha kneeled down between Steve's legs and positioned herself securely between them. Instead of spooning with him this time, she turned her body sideways, resting her shoulder against his broad chest. She tucked her knees up to her breasts, and he closed his large legs tight against her back and her shins as he completely enveloped her small frame in his muscular arms.

Clad only in her makeshift bra top and bikini bottom, along with his boxer trousers, their skin on skin caress was almost intoxicating. Natasha swung her arm around his waist and rested her fingers on the small of his back, but she still held somewhat upright, unsure of being so intimately connected to him like this.

The soldier wouldn't allow her reservation. Sensing her holding back, Steve slid one hand down to her bare hip and pulled her tightly against his torso while his other hand grabbed her shoulder and gently crushed her onto his chest. Natasha's other hand came up to press onto the center of his perfect pecs as her forehead snuggled into his neck. The tender warrior lowered his cheek to rest against her temple.

Trembling, the spy let her eyes slip closed ... and exhaled.

The diligent soldier began to rub all over her lithe body wherever his large hands could reach, massaging her skin and muscles to increase her circulation. Natasha was always surprised by how this man could somehow manage to find the absolute perfect balance between strength and tenderness whenever he touched her. It made her secretly crave it all the more.

There was silence around them for long moments as they tried to warm, listening to the crackling fire, the flowing wind, and the rolling of the ocean waves off in the distance.

"This is the most beautiful place I've ever seen," Steve whispered, intentionally using the soft deep bass of his voice to soothe her soul. "It's peaceful here."

"No war. No conflict," Natasha said quietly in response, trying to stave off the delirium which dulled her senses. "No fighting."

"I said there was a chance you might be in the wrong business," he whispered in her ear.

At his piercing words, her gaze was drawn up to his eyes. Before she realized what she was doing, she had leaned forward to press her full luscious lips against his own. He responded in kind, his hand moving across her bare thigh to draw her deeper into him. A breathless moan rose from within her when she turned her head and opened her mouth to deepen the kiss, sliding her wet tongue against his. Kissing in passionate synchronicity, her hand rose to fondle his cheek before gliding up to tangle in his golden hair. His hand on her shoulder slid over into her fiery auburn strands on the back of her neck and pulled her up to him.

Intense passion threatened to overwhelm them.

Then, there was a loud crack of thunder a short distance away, and the couple forced themselves apart. Both of them turned to stare at the opening of the cave, vigilant for any signs of peril. The following silence hung heavy around them.

After several long moments, The Captain kissed The Black Widow on her forehead. He stared at her pale skin and lightly trembling frame. Her body needed to heal.

"Rest," he said tenderly. "I'll keep watch."

"Are you sure you're okay," asked the spy, concerned for his condition as well as her own.

"I got this," he told her.

Remembering her similar words to him during the battle of New York, she relented, allowing her forehead to lay comfortably against the side of his neck. Steve began to rub his large hands all along the length of her arm and thigh, adding as much warmth to her pale skin as he could. After a long while, his sharp ears caught the sound of the deepening of her breathing, and he allowed himself to relax a little more.

She was alright for now, and that was all that mattered to him. The soldier tried not to allow himself to become distracted by her subtle attractiveness, but he was soon staring down at her lovely face, lost in her beauty. His hand on her shoulder rose to slowly and gently stroke her silken hair with the caring of a lover, and he held her closer. He couldn't turn his eyes away from her, and he continued watching her throughout the night.

* * *

><p>Several hours later, as the morning dawn began to break over the horizon, the customary strong heat of the day began to build quickly. The landscape was still dim, but the first rays of sunlight were quickly spreading. The animals and life on the island sprang to activity with various sounds, their joyful noises resounding across the land.<p>

The weary spy stirred awake quickly, drawn out of her sleep by her concern for her partner. She looked up to find him resting lightly.

Even in repose, the warrior was prepared for combat. The spy knew that he had learned this practice of careful rest while in the trenches during the war, and her heart wished she could relieve him of his stress and pain from their many battles.

Blinking her eyes into coherence, Natasha took notice of the slight loss of color in his skin from the cold. Even though her rational mind told her that the super soldier was just fine, her heart desired to care for him. Telling herself the lie that she was only tending to the needs of her partner, the spy leaned up to lay her forehead on his right cheek while her right hand raised to cover the left side of his face. She warmed his face against her own, using more than the physical as she allowed the silent feelings of her heart to reach out to him.

After she heard the quiet grumble of a slight snore, she allowed her eyes to gaze over him. Her hidden emotions stirred her analytical mind. Her thumb slid down to slide across his still lips, memorizing their feel as she remembered the intense pleasure they had bestowed upon her. She desired to run her fingers over every inch of his face, to catalogue his touch and feel, but she held back. Instead, she watched over him as he had protected her, trying not to let more of what was left of her heart slip away.

The new day held more waiting adventure for them.

* * *

><p>Notes: Thanks to everyone for your support and encouragement! All of you are truly greatly appreciated! Please share your reviews and comments!<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

The new dawn swept over the island with a gentle flowing spirit. The sun rose and instantly warmed all the land. Life on the island leaped back into activity with its presence as if experiencing a new birth each day.

With a measured deep breath, Steve slowly began to awaken. His eyes remained closed, and his mind drew inward. He felt a peace unlike any he had ever felt before in his life. Before he had enlisted in the military, he had harbored an intense desire to serve his country. When he had led The Avengers, he knew that the world once again needed his leadership. After taking down Hydra, he had accomplished his mission. However, his leadership had always made him more of a symbol than a person, and the man Steve Rogers had still not been at ease.

Yet here, now, outside of the world, he had found tranquility. However, he had spent many many nights alone, and he had not found the calm center he now felt. No, the reason for the true peace of his soul, lay enfolded in his arms.

Steve opened his eyes and stared down at the most beautiful sight he had ever seen in his life… the sleeping face of Natalia Alianovna Romanova.

His hand had still been gently caressing her soft auburn hair unconsciously, and as he opened his eyes, his fingers reached over to tuck a silken lock behind her ear. In this quiet moment, he allowed his heart to open so that he could understand it. He adored this woman. With all her faults, flaws, pain and idiosyncrasies, she had somehow slipped his heart away from him.

Steve hadn't expected this. When he had initially met Natasha, he had speculated that maybe his attraction to her was his inner need to defend and protect, but over time he had come to accept that there was more between them. He always took care of her in their battles, and he eventually began to realize that it wasn't just because she was a partner and teammate. His first step toward understanding his true feelings for her had been his realization that she was special to him. Still, with her defensive mechanism of trying to set him up with other women, he had almost resigned himself to the two of them never moving forward in their relationship.

Here, on this island, they had been stripped both physically and psychologically. There was no more world to hold them back now, and it had become much harder to believe they couldn't be together. From the first moment that he had thought she had been dead beside him in that glacier, his feelings for her had been laid bare. Steve wasn't sure if there was any going back for him now.

Natasha stirred as his fingers slid over her ear, and it drew him out of his reverie. Immediately, his concern for her condition took over. She would be awake soon, and he had to provide for her.

Steve gently laid a hand on her forehead to find that she had a light fever, but he hoped that it would break with the new day. Being very careful, he laid her down and slipped her out of his grasp, tucking their uniform scraps back over her securely.

Then, Steve headed for the cave opening. He jumped clear of it, and landed on the ground in a smooth roll. He took off running at full speed, pushing his body for his morning exercise. It always felt exquisite to burn this energy out of his system, and it was even more exhilarating being out here on this deserted island with the freedom to explore.

A few minutes later, Natasha slowly opened her eyes and sat up on one arm.

"Steve?" she called groggily.

Immediately, the detached spy regretted the sound of her own voice. Her tone had sounded almost like the calling out of a lover after a night of lovemaking. She ran a hand through her hair as she forced herself to admit that she and Steve had indeed been getting intimate. Not physically, but in a much more dangerous way. They had been experiencing mental, emotional and spiritual intimacy, and the bond between them had grown exponentially stronger in just a few short hours alone together. Before she could ponder their newfound closeness further, the answer of his voice drew her attention.

"At your service," the super soldier said with a grunt as he crawled one handedly back up into the cave with a satchel of supplies on his back. "I may not be as efficient as Jarvis, but I get the job done. Breakfast is served, ma'am."

"You would have made a great Chippendale, Steve," the saucy agent said as she lazily stood to her feet, smiling at the memory of his addressing her that way when they first met.

"A Chippendale?" Steve said with a deadpan tone.

"Yeah," Natasha looked up at him with a smile. "They were a group of hot guys that served food shirtless and…"

"Did you just say 'hot?'" he asked with a slight grin of his own.

"Yeah," she answered, picking up his uniform shirt and tying it around her waist over her panties. "You were on ice for so long that I figured you could use a warm compliment."

"Yeah, well, you don't look so terrible in the morning, either," he bantered as he kneeled down to unpack their food.

"Oh, so I do look terrible all the other time, then?" she asked as she sauntered over toward him.

"What? No! I meant… ," he said quickly as he looked up to find himself eye level with her sexy toned core and shapely hips before glancing up at her eyes. "You're… You're beautiful all the time, Natasha," he said without thinking.

"Well, which is it?" Natasha smiled victoriously as she sat down by the edge of the cave to soak in the warm breeze, knowing that she had him trapped in their verbal sparring.

Steve lowered his head with a goofy defeated and exasperated grin. He made a mental note to not banter with the spy in the mornings. She always trumped him with her dry humor, but it seemed that she was particularly witty in the early hours of the day, much to his dismay.

"Are you hungry?" he asked, blatantly trying to change the subject.

"I'm starving," the spy answered, letting him off the hook.

Unbeknownst to Steve, Natasha let him end her line of questioning more for her sake than his. Over the course of her life, many men had told her of her attractiveness, and none of them had deterred her from her missions or phased her in the least. However, hearing Steve say this to her caused a warm reaction in the center of her chest that she didn't want to think about. She had felt this same way when he had given her his reverse compliment about her bikini body when they were alone in that hospital room.

"Bon appetit," the bashful soldier smiled.

The two of them enjoyed their comfortable silence as they feasted on delicious fruits, berries and vegetables, then washed down their meal with water which tasted more fresh and clear than any of the best glacier water. When they finished, the soldier gathered their things and secured the spy to his back once again before climbing down the rock face with ease. Side by side, they resumed their course toward the central island cluster.

Just as Steve was about to call for a rest break for Natasha after a few miles of brisk hiking, they caught sight of a small waterfall up ahead of them. The edge of the falls overlooked the western part of the island. There didn't seem to be any other signs of civilization around them as far as the eye could see.

"This looks like a good spot for a dive," said Natasha as she stepped over to the edge of the falls.

"Maybe if you were feeling better," Steve said, dismissively turning around to walk back the way they had come. "It may have cut some time off our trip, but not enough to warrant the risk."

"Risk? What risk?" Natasha grinned incredulously, untying his shirt from around her waist without him noticing.

"Well, the woman suffering from the effects of hypothermic shock probably shouldn't be jumping into a stream of water right now, even if it is warm."

"Probably not," the spy said.

Something in her voice tipped him. Steve stopped walking. He turned around… just in time to see Natasha going over the edge of the waterfall.

"Nat!" Steve yelled as he ran over to the edge.

The spy was quite a sight to behold. She executed a practiced swan dive which was near perfection in motion. The grace and splendor of her fluid body sailing through the air seemed flawless.

Steve watched her slice into the water with a delicate skill, hardly causing any splash around her at all. Even though he knew that she was probably just fine, he still felt a little apprehensive as he waited for her to surface. After several long moments with no sign of her, he leapt off the side and into the water.

Submerged, Natasha stretched her body, testing her control and maneuverability. From her intense combat training and extensive gymnastic expertise, she knew her own body implicitly, and this exertion allowed her to get an accurate gauge of her physical condition. She held her breath and watched the surface of the water above her, waiting for the inevitable splash that she knew was imminent. She would test her skills again as she eluded him.

The soldier hit the water with more of a crash than a splash. He was skilled, but his worry for her caused his dive to completely lack her poise and precision. As Steve looked around for her under the surface of the water, he caught glimpses of motion just outside of his peripheral vision. In a second, the tactician figured out what she had been doing. Of course, she had been testing herself. Unnerving him in the process was probably simply an added bonus for her. With a grin on his face, the soldier slowly floated up over the surface of the water. Moments later, he heard the sleek spy rise up behind him.

"You could have told me you wanted to test yourself," Steve told her as the two of them swam around to face each other. "You're in better shape than I thought, but you're still far from combat ready."

"You may be right," Natasha conceded. "But my test isn't over yet. I'll race you to that boulder down stream there," she said as she pointed to a large rock on the edge of the stream several yards away. "After I beat you, I'll know that I'm half my best."

"Do you want to say go?" Steve asked with a cocky smile.

At his words, Natasha took off. She extended and stretched her body, pushing it to her limits. She swam hard, moving through the water quickly, pleased with her momentum. After several long strokes and a good distance, she looked behind her to catch Steve's location.

He hadn't moved. He was still in the same place. As he caught sight of her looking at him, he gazed down at his wrist as if staring at an imaginary watch to show that he was bored.

Natasha turned around and pushed harder. Steve made her feel strong, light and even somewhat young like a child when she was with him. This was a feeling she had never felt before in her life, even when she had been little. Since love was for children, some distant part of her imagined that maybe this lift of joy in her heart may be what loving him might feel like.

The spy used her physical exertion to push those dangerous thoughts away. She was already half the distance to the objective. Her body strained and pulled against her, but she pushed even harder, her competitive nature compelling her to emerge victorious. She would prove the super soldier wrong.

After several more strokes, she looked behind her to find him. He wasn't there. When she looked back up ahead of her, she caught sight of him already in front of her only three yards away from the boulder.

He was impossibly fast. Knowing that she had lost, the spy gave one last straining push for power. It was one too many. Suddenly, she felt her limbs give out on her, instantly becoming almost dead weight for her to try to lift. Her eyes widened in startled surprise. The breakdown happened so quickly that she was caught off guard. She struggled, but her arms and legs became more unresponsive with each movement she attempted. Her lungs seemed to give out as all of her breath left her. In seconds, she was underwater and sinking fast. Just as her eyes focused on the darkness below her, she suddenly felt her entire body drawing backward away from it and up toward the surface.

Her body spun and she rose above the water on her back, with two large hands firmly holding her up, one in the center of her back and the other cradled underneath her thighs. She turned to the side and coughed some water out of her lungs before she looked up into Steve's concerned eyes.

"I got you," he said with a worried brow as he stared intensely into her eyes. "Just breathe. Just breathe," he soothed.

"You move…," the spy tried to force out as she struggled to regain her breath. "You move… pretty fast… for a fossil."

"Thanks for the race," he smiled tenderly. "If that's what you want to call racing."

"I may have… slightly… overestimated my condition," Natasha whispered.

"You ever practice the backstroke?" he asked.

"Of course, Steve," she answered, already being able to tell that there was something behind this question. "I'm sure everyone did. It's…"

"When I was little, and struggling with the asthma, I couldn't swim," he interrupted her intently. "I learned to relax my body first, and then try to swim. After I did the backstroke for a while, I could then turn over and get through the water a little. The peace gave me strength. Let's try that now."

Natasha gazed up into Steve's eyes above her. She knew exactly what he was actually asking her to do. And, truth be told, The Black Widow would rather face a cadre of Ultron robots than grant his request.

"Steve, I don't think…"

"It'll be fun," he whispered meaningfully.

Natasha stared up at him for a tense moment longer. She had never before willingly put her well being in the hands of another person. In combat, there had been times when she'd had to rely on her partners, but this was the first time that anyone had asked for her trust without dangerous circumstances around them. The woman Natalia dared The Black Widow Natasha to try. She wanted to. Her heart swelled… then she closed her eyes.

Natasha's senses heightened. She could feel Steve's protective hands on her, guiding her, soothing her. Then, her mind expanded, and she felt her surroundings. There was the water under her body, the air cooling her lungs and the warm sun blissfully beaming down on her. There was serenity around her, and she could partake of it, if only she could find the strength within herself to let go.

Steve was with her. If she couldn't find trust within herself, perhaps it lay within him. Natasha heard his breathing above her, strong, slow and steady. Maybe, just his presence was enough.

She let go. Her arms slowly flowed out to her sides. Her body … her soul… felt light and weightless, momentarily devoid of the pain and guilt which she always carried, which had kept her lost in a spiritual void of darkness always seeking redemption. Willingly placing her well being in the hands of another gave her the most liberating feeling she had ever experienced, and it allowed her to feel a freedom she had never felt before.

Just as she was trying to give herself completely to Steve, she felt the tension of the river change. The current became stronger, faster and more out of control. The angle shifted, and there was a slight howl in the wind around her.

Natasha didn't open her eyes.

Above her, Steve smiled deep inside his heart. Despite the change in the waters around them, Steve guided them effortlessly. His eyes were drawn from the river in front of them back down to the woman in his arms, and he embraced his own joy for her. For him, the struggle in life had always been to pick up his banner and lead, but her struggle was to lay down her mantle and live. In this small moment, she had taken a tremendous step forward, and he felt honored to be the man there for the woman of his heart.

After several long minutes, during which she lost track of time, Natasha felt the stream again becoming calm and smooth, and she opened her eyes. She was surprised to find that Steve had let go of her and was wading through the water a few yards away from her. With a peaceful flow, her body continued floating on top of the buoyancy of the water, a picture of serene tranquility in the midst of an unbelievable paradise.

Natasha looked ahead and found that they were near a soft sandy shore. Before she could move, she felt her protector's feather light touch lift her up out of the warm water. After only a few steps, he lowered her down flat on her back on top of the sand, and then he lay down beside her.

Both of them basked in the blissful feel of the sun beaming down on them, enjoying the balance of cold and hot. After a short lingering glance into one another eyes,' they laid back on the sand and rested.

Seemingly of their own accord, their hands joined and their fingers intertwined between them.

* * *

><p>The sensation of flying was the first thing her waking mind held on to. There was motion around her, and she was floating. Natasha's conscious mind realized that Steve was carrying her again. She must have dozed off on the shore.<p>

They were moving through the forest. He was heading straight at a brisk pace, and she was surprised by how silently he was able to maneuver his muscular frame. He had been making his way carefully through the foliage, attempting not to awaken her.

"Where are we?" the spy asked quietly.

"Coming up on an overlook," he told her as he surveyed their surroundings. "I think I caught sight of a metallic structure to our north this morning."

"Steve?" the spy smiled slyly.

"Yeah?" he breathed without really paying attention to her.

"I don't see any puddles under us."

"Hmmm? Oh!" said Steve, realizing what she wanted.

He quickly slid her down to the ground, and they shared a tender smile. Side by side, they walked to the edge of a large butte towering over a small section of the island. The higher elevation provided a beautiful scenic view of the northern section of the region along with the horizon beyond. It was a breathtaking sight, even for seasoned veterans of world travel, but the structure on the edge of the island a few miles ahead of them was even more startling.

There was a small metallic cluster off the coast at the crest of a short hill just a few miles ahead of them. It appeared to be a small outpost installation. It consisted of a trinity of buildings with the largest in the center and two smaller ones positioned on either side of it. The main tower was equipped with a circular communication disk on top of it.

"Let's find out what's over there," The Captain said in his command voice.

After more travel through the foliage which passed quickly, the partners drew near to their objective. With his shield moving branches aside and her katana cutting vines, the two of them moved through the forests easily and swiftly. It seemed as if they were a great team in all things, moving with each other in perfect unison. As they finally broke through the forestry onto the shore clearing location, the two of them paused to survey their surroundings.

The stealthy agent reached over to where Steve had slung her holster over his shoulder and withdrew her pistol. Then, she leaned up to slip her katana out of its sheath across his back. The soldier held his shield at the ready as they headed toward the main building.

The Captain slipped into the side door first with The Black Widow just behind him. The primary auditorium looked like a miniature layout of a NASA launch room, with three rectangular desks facing a window wall which was probably used as a high tech viewscreen.

They made a quick scout of the entire outpost, finding only living quarters and study areas. There were no signs of life anywhere.

Returning to the central auditorium, they went to work. The spy began checking wire cable connections while the soldier located the central fuse box. He tried every breaker inside of it and there was no response at all. He called out to his partner as he walked over and began to sift through drawers and dismantled hardware.

"No power at all," he told her. "I figured that would be the case."

"No major damage anywhere," she answered him. "The systems are antiquated, but nothing looks broken. We need power to get the systems going. We might have a slight problem, though. The last time we were in a situation like this, people started shooting missiles at us."

"I remember," Steve said with a grin as he pulled stacks of paperback books out of some of the drawers and flipped through them. "Alright, I'll start by rebuilding the electrical system. I just memorized the entire layout of the installation here, but the work may take some time."

"When did Captain America become an expert engineer?" the snarky spy asked sarcastically.

"Necessity is the father of invention."

"I think that's 'mother,'" she corrected with a smile. "The phrase…"

"I understood the reference," he said, interrupting her fun with a grin of his own.

"Okay," she smiled. "While you're working on that, I'll take care of our nourishment and see if I can find anything in the interior to get this place going."

"Are you going to be okay in here?" the natural team leader asked her.

"I got this," she answered reassuringly.

With a nod, Steve made his way outside and began his extensive work. Natasha carefully and thoroughly began to check the power sources and supplies in all three buildings of the installation. Both of their work tasks lasted hours, and the entire day passed in a blur of activity.

* * *

><p>Late in the afternoon, as the soldier was busy on the roof checking all power connections for possible shortages, covered in sweat with his hair and boxer underwear plastered to his body, he caught sight of the spy making her way toward the water. He looked up from his work at the pleasant distraction, his keen vision discerning every curve of her physique as she walked. To him, the curves of her body were feminine perfection.<p>

When she reached the water, Natasha's head whipped around to stare up at him, and he didn't miss the kinky raise of her eyebrow. She had known he'd been watching her. To try to pass the moment smoothly, the bashful gentleman raised a hand in a polite wave.

The sexy spy returned his acknowledgement demurely, then she turned around and dropped his shirt she had kept tied along her hips.

Still watching as she leaned over to throw some water across her skin to wash herself, he was mesmerized as she seemed to glisten and glow in the light of the bright sun. He turned away, staring back down at the wires and framework in his hands. After just a few moments, his eyes were drawn back to the shore, and he could no longer look away.

Natasha's auburn hair blew softly in the constant gentle breeze flowing over her. He watched the careful undulation of her back as she moved, catching just glimpses of her womanly bounce from her sides. Her wide feminine hips swayed sensuously, and his eyes followed the sexy curve of her thighs down to her smooth rounded calves. He couldn't take his eyes off of her.

Using her katana, the spy skillfully captured a baleful of fish, tossing them onto the garment she had dropped. She gauged her own physical condition, and although she moved better than the first time she had gathered fish, she was still very far from being well. After she had a large pile ready to be prepared, she ran some water through her hair before making her way back onto the shore.

The spy looked up to watch Steve turning his back to her just as she looked up at him, his head down and focused on his task. She didn't usually indulge herself, as she had been taught to not allow herself any pleasantries and such in her training. As she had been trying to learn to live life more normally since her time with the Avengers, she was slowly starting to find her identity as a person. Experiencing this new vulnerability in her life, Natasha admitted that being alone on an island with this particular man was the worst thing which could have happened to her… or the best.

She knew that they couldn't be together, and she had to fix this fact in her mind. She had accepted this back in the world, but being here with him alone on this island, outside of all rules and boundaries, caused her to somewhat lose her focus. Here, in this beautiful setting, there didn't seem to be any reason for them to be apart. Even though she felt that she didn't deserve happiness like this because of her sins, the woman inside her was reaching out for this man, and this once in her life she was finding it difficult to deny herself.

The spy had twice succumbed to the temptation to kiss him. Steve had initiated the first kiss, but she had kissed him the second time. If she were honest with herself, she couldn't deny that she wanted more from him. She had for a very long time. Still, she reminded herself that all of this could end with a sudden rescue and they would be back in the world… back to themselves… back to the distance between them. Then, she would return to her lonely personal life once again. The spy decided that it would be best if she tried not to let them get too close to each other.

Against her better judgement, the spy allowed her eyes to flow over the rippling muscles in his back. She gazed at his thick powerful arms as they moved with fluid efficiency, and stared at his lower back and thighs in motion. Turning away to stare down at the sand under her shaky feet, she tried not to stare back at him, but her eyes were again on his amazing physique only a moment later.

If she were always honest, like Steve, instead of always thinking in lies to keep from dying, she would admit to herself that the sexual tension between them was so thick she would have to use her best knife to cut it.

The two of them looked up as she reached the door of the outpost, and were both caught in a blatant gaze at the other. Both of them lingered intensely for a long moment, the sun hanging on their skin and the gentle breeze blowing through their hair, before they both turned away back to their tasks.

* * *

><p>The rest of the light of the day passed quickly, almost seeming to go faster than usual. As the first signs of sunset signalled their arrival, Steve reluctantly positioned his projects into neat organization, then he quickly made his way toward the primary housing.<p>

The soldier was anxious to work, but he knew that Natasha would feel the cold soon. She was a very tough woman, certainly one of the strongest he had ever met, and she would not show the true detriment her body would be experiencing from the temperature. He needed to be near her to gauge her condition, and he also wanted to simply be there for her.

He entered the main installation and followed a delicious smell of cooking fish to one of the rooms near the rear of the building. He stepped around the open doorway and took in the sight before him.

Standing facing away from him, the spy had converted a long countertop into a makeshift kitchen. It had a sink, and she had skillfully crafted little fire areas along its surface where she had a number of courses cooking. Comically, it almost seemed to him as if she had become some kind of master chef from scratch.

Steve took in the visage of the woman in front of him. His mind's eye gave him a flash of the kind of wife he had always pictured coming home to when he had been young. She would be strong, gorgeous and attentive, very much similar to the lovely vision he was now watching. He was only drawn out of his reverie as she turned around toward him.

"You can wash your hands in the sink here," she said. "I got us some running water working. I hope I made enough food for you. I know you need to eat, and I don't mind taking care of my…"

'Man' her heart completed for her.

"… partner," the spy said, hoping that he hadn't noticed her hesitation.

"I'm a little surprised you know how to do all this," Steve said, doing her the favor of not pressing her about what could have been a Freudian slip. "I could quote every word in your entire file to you backwards, and I don't seem to recall it mentioning anything about culinary skills."

"It did state that I was married for a while," the spy said, not looking up as she sat a large plate onto the little island desk in the center of the area. "I learned a lot of things during that time," she added with a dark wistful tone.

"Did you like being married?" the inquisitive soldier asked, hoping to hear how she felt about long term commitment. "Did you love Alexei?" he followed a moment later, intentionally using the name of her husband to shake her out of her comfort zone.

"Like I said, I learned a lot," Natasha answered, still not looking up at him as she filled the plate with food. "Love is for children."

"You didn't love him?"

"I tried," the spy admitted slightly reluctantly. She wished that Steve would stop questioning her. Only he could pull things out of her like this. "I really tried. He was a good man. I just… had nothing inside to give. After my training in the Red Room, I was hollow. He… He said I was as cold as the Russian winter."

"That was his excuse," Steve said in his strong whisper.

"Excuse?" she asked, looking up at him in surprise.

"For not being there for you. For not being the man you deserve!" he said strongly.

The spy gazed up into his eyes with a deep stare. During their ordeal a year ago, Steve had challenged her to show him who she really was. Out of all the people in her life, his opinion of her mattered the most to her. She had once asked him if he could trust her. Now, he was the man she trusted most. A part of her wanted to open up and share herself with him, as she hesitantly longed for the caring he offered her.

"After that, I just shut down emotionally," she continued. "I couldn't let anyone else get close to me again. That just wasn't a part of my life anymore. I know there's a stigma around The Black Widow, but the truth is that all my targets were either dead or incapacitated long before they could touch me. And… the only man that was ever close enough to know that part of me… compared me to a frozen wasteland," she whispered sadly, almost to herself. "I guess he was right."

"I don't think that's the truth," the soldier interrupted boldy. "People who don't care don't fight as hard as you do to save others. They don't try because they don't care. You fight because you do."

Natasha asked quickly to change the subject, "What about you?" She had mistakenly opened up too much of herself to him, and she retreated by turning their conversation towards him. "Have you found anyone with shared life experiences yet?"

"I called Sharon," he told her flatly, taking a mouthful.

"Oh yeah?" she asked, not noticing that her eyes darkened subtly at his admission. "What happened?"

"It was a little like your situation," he told her, not missing the darkness which crossed her face and lifted his heart. Despite all her attempted matchmaking, she hadn't really wanted him to date another woman. "Things progressed and went… very well… for a while between us. In the end, things just didn't work out."

"Why not?"

"I was told that I was… distracted."

"Distracted?" the spy asked incredulously. "Meaning?"

"Meaning I was thinking of someone else," Steve answered blandly.

Natasha stopped moving, and stared up at him. Her eyes dropped to his lips, then gazed back into his eyes. The silence between them was deafening.

Then, the quiet of the moment was shattered by the loud striking of booming thunder outside, just near the installation. Both of them quickly made their way to the observatory and peered out at the dark night, but there didn't seem to be anything amiss on the island.

The chill of the atmosphere was much stronger in the forward rooms, and the spy looked down at her hand to find it slightly trembling. Her attentive partner had noticed it before she did, and his brow furrowed with concern.

"We need to get you settled in," he said firmly.

"I found a locker full of candles and I've already positioned them throughout the rooms where we may need them the most," she told him. "It was strange that I was able to find all kinds of helpful items like pots and pans, but this place is completely without essentials like clothing and such."

"Let's get to the smaller rooms," Steve said, unknowingly slipping into his command voice.

As they walked side by side down the short hallways, the spy found herself slightly uncertain and insecure. Combat was easy for her because it was what she knew. However, living with a person outside of a work environment, truly being with someone, was much more difficult.

"Thanks, Steve," she said dismissively as they reached a pair of small dorms across the hallway from each other. "I'll be alright."

Steve wanted to say something else, but he couldn't find the words. Natasha took the initiative, reaching up to place one hand on his left cheek while she kissed his right. She hadn't wanted to accidentally kiss him on his mouth again, and unwittingly set off these fireworks between them which lay dormant just underneath the surface waiting to explode into unbridled passion.

"I'm here if you need me," he managed as she stepped away from him.

Natasha felt the same pull at her heart that she had endured when she had walked away from him that day at the cemetery long ago. She didn't want to walk away from him. Some part of her felt so right, too right, being with him. The spy fought with herself to not give in to the temptation, even though she wanted nothing more than to release her heart's desire. Every step seemed to hurt her heart all the more.

Steve watched her turn away from him, remembering the way she had walked away a year ago. He felt his heart sink the same way that it had on that day. Even after all they had been through with Hydra and all they had been through on this island, it seemed as if they still couldn't find their way to each other. The soldier put his hands on his hips the same way he had done when she'd walked away from him in the hospital long ago.

He watched as the spy stepped into the room, his heart already missing her continued presence, and noticed that she hadn't closed the door behind her.

* * *

><p>The temperature dropped continually over the next few hours. Without the warmth of the sun, the nights on the island were always extremely frigid, but on this night the atmosphere was even much colder than usual. It was almost as if a rogue blizzard had blown in across the land.<p>

Natasha lay covered in as many blankets as she could find, but there was absolutely no respite for her. She could certainly force herself to endure the pain and discomfort as she had been taught to do, but it was much more difficult when there was someone just a few feet away so willing to be there for her. Somehow, it made the loneliness she had always felt exponentially more profound.

Laying down had not helped her to sleep at all, so she had eventually sat up and curled into a bundle, very similar to her position after her first encounter with the massive green rage monster. Tucking her legs into her body had seemingly provided no additional warmth, and she only trembled more now. After a little while longer, her entire body started to feel numb.

The spy remembered telling Steve about the coldness she had felt her entire life. Her situation was ironic in that the cold outside now matched the cold inside.

She hadn't told him that he had been the only warmth she had ever known.

* * *

><p>Some time later, as he lay alone in his bed, the soldier was reminded of one of his favorite quotes -<p>

"The greatest battles we fight, are the ones on the inside."

- from the novel 'Peaceful Warrior' by Dan Millman.

At the moment, he was waging a war within himself. Steve wanted to go to Natasha. He could feel that she needed him, and he wanted to be there for her. However, he also knew that her life of pain and independence would probably cause her to reject him if he approached her. The last thing he wanted to do was to push her away.

He knew that she needed him in her current condition. The ill effects of the hypothermic shock were wearing off, but her body still healing slowly. He knew that he needed to watch over her, to ease his own mind and heart. Steve decided that he had to go to her.

Overwhelmed with concern, the usually perceptive warrior hadn't caught the whisper of sound moments before. As Steve sat up quickly and prepared to move, he immediately caught sight of Natasha standing at the foot of his bed. She was barely visible in the dim light of the three candles spread out in the bedroom, but she was there.

One look in his eyes told her all she needed to know. The two of them moved in unison. Steve threw the thin covers back as Natasha moved around to his side. She slipped his shirt off her waist and left it on the floor beside the bed. Glad to have her near, he vigorously pulled her down on top of him while simultaneously throwing the covers over her back. Grateful for his enthusiastic acceptance, Natasha didn't have enough time to force her unresponsive hypothermic body to adjust. She landed directly on top of his muscular frame, her hands resting against his firm broad chest, her legs spread on either side of his waist.

Steve didn't seem to mind their position at all. He rubbed up and down her back with both hands, restoring circulation to her lithe body. Natasha immediately felt a soothing warmth spreading outward from his skin to her own, and she was thankful for relief from the nearly paralyzing cold she had been feeling. As she began to relax, she laid her head down on his chest and waited for a long moment… then, she closed her eyes.

He held her close, firmly and quietly, and they breathed together. The serenity of this moment with him broke the remnants of her heart open in ways she had never imagined possible.

After several minutes, when he thought she may have fallen asleep, he allowed himself to gaze down at her lovely face. He again found himself lost in her. He couldn't take his eyes off of her beautiful visage, and he knew with certainty that he would never ever tire of watching this woman sleep.

Of its own volition, his hand raised and stroked her silken hair softly and gently, the adoration in his touch obvious and evident.

With her eyes closed, Natasha felt every single caress of his fingers in her hair. His large hand sliding up and down the skin of her back to help warm her was the perfect balance of firmness and tenderness. It was obvious that he didn't want to wake her.

The spy kept her eyes closed and her breathing steady, just so that he wouldn't stop touching her like this. Sometimes, she was still deceptive without even trying. It was for this very reason, the way that he could make her feel, that she was more apprehensive about this man above all others.

Steve, only Steve, could possibly not only bring to life the cold embers of her long dead heart, but only he could perhaps also help her build a new one.

This single hope almost made a tear slip from her closed eye before she finally drifted off to sleep.

* * *

><p>Early the next morning, Natasha awoke to an empty bed. Her skin was already wet and slightly sticky with sweat from the heat of the day, and her thin garments were clinging to her. She sat up in Steve's bed and looked around for him.<p>

She immediately deduced that he had probably headed out for his morning exercise and reconnaissance run. It was obvious that he still wasn't eating enough for his metabolism, and she wanted to prepare a meal for him before he began his daily work. Her body felt a little stronger after her rest in his warm arms, and she hoped that she had enough time to get breakfast ready.

Natasha walked across the hallway to her room… and her senses quickly alerted into high gear. As she stepped out into the short space, her peripheral vision caught something unusual… a dark shadow… standing at the far end of the hallway… watching her.

The spy reacted with the lightning fast reflexes of a trained assassin. She snatched her pistol off the desk where she had placed it and swung back out into the hall in a fluid motion. With an almost identical expression on her face as she had the first time she had drawn her gun on the hulk, the spy waited tensely as she stared at the silent empty hallway.

There was someone there. She couldn't see it. But there was something there.

Behind her, Steve stepped into the hallway from the front auditorium, and her posture immediately alerted him. Holding his shield at the ready, he was at her side in a second, staring with her down the open passageway.

"What's going on?" he asked intensely.

Natasha never moved her eyes away from the dark hallway in front of them.

"We're not alone."

* * *

><p>Author's note: Thanks so much to all of you that read, review and comment! You are all so wonderful! I truly madly deeply appreciate every word you send me! This may become an ongoing series, and if so, it will be filled with mystery, action, adventure and romance. There will be revelations, hauntings, civilizations, surprises and other storylines I hope you shall all enjoy! This story was not planned, and it now has a life of its own and has started writing itself! Please share your thoughts as we continue on this journey together!<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

The long dim hallway loomed eerily silent before them. Despite the humid heat of the morning outside, the atmosphere in the corridor had dropped to a strange coldness. There was danger near.

Steve and Natasha advanced forward in a concise cover formation. He had stepped slightly in front of her so that his shield protectively covered her side, and she had moved her gun to her left hand so that she had a clear line of fire from behind him. The two of them were a perfect team.

The soldier stepped into the medium sized rear observation room before the spy, making certain that the way was clear for her. His enhanced vision carefully scoured the circular space for any signs of an adversary. He turned and nodded to Natasha, and the two of them split up to slowly walk along opposite walls.

All of the window walls and the glass ceiling were covered by shutters, and very little of the light of the day filtered in for illumination. There were two small study closets on both sides of the main room which were even darker than the outer area. This was the best place in the entire outpost for an interior assault.

The quiet stillness around them hung thick with tension and heavy with silence.

Suddenly, Steve glanced over at Natasha, and his keen eyes immediately discerned a dark shadow moving along the wall just inches behind her. The spy caught the nearly imperceptible narrowing of his eyes as they shared a glance, and she burst into action. Again, the partners moved in perfect unison. The Captain slung his shield in a powerful swing as The Black Widow dove forward into a smooth roll. The vibranium disc pounded into the wall near where she had been as she slid up out of her roll and drew down on the spot behind her to quickly fire three bullets into the metal.

The shadow was gone. Steve's shield rebounded off the wall and Natasha's bullets hit nothing.

Yet, in the blink of an eye, the shadow reappeared… rising up out of the floor behind Natasha.

The soldier was in motion in a split second. He leapt into the air, fluidly catching his mighty shield, and bounced off the wall above her. He spun his body around and swung his shield in a horizontal swing over her head to slice the shadow in half.

Again, in a flash, the dark entity dematerialized before the metal cut touch it.

In a smooth motion, Steve reached his left arm down and scooped Natasha up effortlessly as if she weighed the same as a dry leaf, draping her body along his hip much the same way as he had when he had carried her out of the path of the bomb explosion on the Lemurian Star. The Black Widow reacted to her Captain swiftly. She leaned upward and curled her left leg around his left thigh and acrobatically extended her right leg to wrap around the right side of his waist. She balanced herself by reaching her right arm across his muscular torso and holding on to his right shoulderblade while she extended her left arm over his left shoulder with her gun aimed. She used his left shoulder as a brace for precision accuracy aim while she stared forward with a stern focused expression.

The Captain kept his left arm wrapped around The Black Widow's waist holding her against him while holding his shield with his right hand as he slowly turned them around in a circle, searching for any signs of their adversary in the room. Natasha couldn't see the entity as well as Steve in the low light, but she knew that her keen eyes would spot any movement near them.

All was still, dark and silent.

"It's stalking us," Steve said in an intense whisper.

"Enjoying the hunt," whispered Natasha intensely.

Suddenly, there was a rush of air from above pushing down on them with a heavy weight. Steve and Natasha both looked up to see a black cloud crashing down toward them. The soldier raised his shield as he pulled the spy under him, and Natasha wrapped both her arms around his neck to protect him as best she could. There was an eerie high pitched scream which reverberated out of the atmosphere around them as the black cloud seemed to pass through their bodies and dematerialize into the floor beneath them. After a few intense seconds, the darkness was gone.

Steve waited, holding Natasha protectively close. Slowly, he lowered his shield and stood tall, and the two of them silently surveyed the room around them. The temperature rose quickly as the unusual coldness seemed to dissipate.

The dark entity was gone.

Steve started to take a few steps toward the door as Natasha unwrapped her legs from around his waist. Her little feet didn't touch the floor, instead lowering to dangle three inches above it.

Natasha looked up at Steve. He was still gazing around them, seemingly oblivious to his arm around her hips and the fact that he was still carrying her. The spy lowered her gun to her side and gently placed one hand on his shoulder to balance herself, thinking the contact would rouse his attention.

The soldier kept walking.

"Steve?"

"Hmmm?"

"Can you…"

"Oh!" said Steve, immediately lowering her to the floor and letting her go.

The spy smiled as she looked up at him. The man was unnervingly cute. The Black Widow wouldn't have allowed any other man in the world to touch her like this, but from him it was endearing to a fault.

"Do you think it's coming back?" she asked.

"I'll check the perimeter," The Captain stated, slipping into his command voice. "I might be able to find some trace of this thing that might help us defend against it. The shadow may have been ethereal but any possible early warning will help. Maybe you can look around inside and see if you find anything in here."

"Got it," the spy followed.

* * *

><p>Hours later, the outpost stood calm. The heat of the day beamed down, but a constant gentle breeze kept a slight coolness overlaying the island. The sound of the waters of the ocean echoed across the shore.<p>

Steve was sweating profusely as he searched. He was looking around for anything strange or unusual as he walked up to a set of electricity poles behind the main building. As he looked down, he noticed that the ground near the third pillar was slightly loose and more disturbed than the other two. It wasn't secured as well as the others. The brilliant tactician's mind began to study the pillar. The soldier wrapped his strong hands around the thin pylon and pulled. The entire pole rose up.

Steve stopped quickly. Intuition told him that this was a major clue concerning the mystery surrounding them. He quickly hurried into the left side building where he'd taken note of a structural supply storage room. He retrieved a shovel and hurriedly dug a large hole around the pylon. He slipped down into the hole and studied the electrical connections at its base… or lack thereof.

The soldier paused for a moment and stared hard at the structure. His head had been pounding with a dull ache since their encounter inside the outpost, and he could tell that he wasn't thinking with his usual sharpness. With his advanced immune system, the super soldier very rarely if ever felt ill. Raising a hand to his eyes, his rubbed them firmly as he steadied himself.

The tactician knew he had just found the source of the installation's sabotage. This wasn't an accident. Someone had deliberately shut down all communication with the island. The question was why.

* * *

><p>Inside the installation, the temperature had risen considerably. While the structure held the cold of the evening at night, it also trapped the humidity of the day as well.<p>

Natasha had just finished gathering food for the two of them and was making her way up from the shore. Her body felt much better as she headed back inside the main building, the adrenaline of the morning seeming to have caused a resurgence of her system. Yet, while her physicality had improved, her mental state had waned. Her mind felt clouded and she would feel a little dazed sometimes with a pounding migraine, often having to pause to try to clear her head. It was very unusual.

Her skin was covered in a light sheen of perspiration, and she thought about taking Steve's shirt from around her waist to give her legs some added air. She reached down, and instead of pulling it off, she found herself running her fingers along its surface. The garment carried his manly scent, and she liked wearing it. After a moment, the spy admonished herself for these dangerous thoughts and decided that she might take a short shower before rechecking the buildings and preparing their next meal.

Just as she stepped inside, she was surprised to hear the sudden humming of electricity coming into existence. As in all things, the greatest soldier in history had accomplished his task. The installation once again had a power supply. The Captain was already walking in just as she was laying hands on the main keyboard.

"Nat, see if you can access the primary system and run a full scan on the island."

"I'm on it," The Black Widow responded instantly, already typing commands into the main keyboard in front of her. "We're in, Steve," Natasha said after only a few seconds, waiting for him to walk over and stand close behind her. "The system appears to be an antiquated model overlaid by some high tech programs. Everything was set up to study the island for some reason, focusing on the lakes and waters as possible transportation portals. Most of the data has been erased."

"As if someone didn't want their discoveries to be found?"

"That's exactly what it looks like. Also, there's something strange going on with the communications array. Everything is functioning properly, but it simply will not get a signal."

"Can you pull up a schematic of it?"

"Done," the spy said ahead of herself as she typed commands into the main computer.

Moments later, the entire western wall of the auditorium activated and smoothly morphed into a large graphics display screen. A complicated diagram of the entire upper level of the main building then covered its surface, quickly running through page after page. The super soldier stared at the schematics for only a few seconds before he started toward the door, giving orders in his command voice.

"I'm going to take the array apart piece by piece and rebuild it. Nat, you check the entire computer layout. Run every diagnostic there is on the system and then scan every part of this island."

"Steve, look," Natasha said slightly breathlessly as her hands stopped typing on the keyboard in front of her. "The position locator… "

Standing beside her, Steve stared up at the large viewscreen. The array had triangulated a map of the entire region… and there was nothing. Beyond the boundaries of the island, there was only water.

"The… The world is gone," she whispered. "There's nothing there."

Both of them stood motionless in repose for a long moment, gazing at the blank screen in front of them.

"I need to repair the array to boost the scanners and increase the range," said Steve. "They're not going out very far. We need to be sure."

"I'll extend them to their current max range and set for continuous running. They'll let us know if anything shows up."

The two of them looked back at the viewscreen, watching the continuous scan. Then, they stared at one another for a long moment before turning back to the scan. There didn't seem to be anything else out there in the world, yet still, they had each other.

* * *

><p>Later that evening, the chill of the night air began to come inland early. The sun was setting on the horizon, drawing gloriously beautiful colors out of the clouds. A brisk wind followed, dropping the temperature quickly.<p>

Completing the first part of the external repairs, the soldier paused in his work at the sunset. Steve walked inside the installation to find Natasha cooking busily in the kitchen. Smiling at the sight of her, he made his way over to stand near the spy.

"The perimeter is as secure as it can be," the soldier told her.

"The full scans are running but they haven't turned up anything yet," she responded.

"Smells delicious," said Steve with an appreciative smile.

"Taste," Natasha ordered, picking up a gently sizzling piece of fish.

The spy placed the small slice into Steve's mouth, and her fingers lingered as he softly sucked on her forefinger along with the food. Staring up into his eyes, she slid her thumb across his lips, smoothing away a slight stream of hot juice which lined them. Then, she pulled her thumb back and licked off the tasty sauce.

Surprised by this unexpected sensuality, the two of them gazed into one another's eyes for a long moment. Then, Natasha turned away quickly, feeling that she was simply too close to him. Steve looked down, allowing her the space she needed to retreat, still pleased that she was allowing him to see a little more of the woman underneath the surface.

"Tastes delicious too," he said with a smile.

"I found something for you," the spy said, glancing up at him with a pleased grin before walking over to the center table and bringing him a book. "It was in one of the main drawers," she told him as she handed it to him. "I found it along with a lot of other personal belongings that seem to have been left behind."

"Someone left a King James 1611 Bible here!" the soldier said with a beaming smile. "I'm so glad you found this. Thank you, Natasha. They must have known I was coming," he grinned.

"The timing is uncanny," said Natasha. "I don't know how long we were in the ice, but the last day I remember before waking up here on the island… "

"… was three days before Christmas," finished Steve. "We should celebrate the holiday. Let's eat."

As they sat down together and started their meal, Steve opened the Book and studied. Natasha watched the quiet peace, joy and serenity which fell over his features. She found herself staring at him openly, her heart and mind intrigued by his blissful posture. After a few moments, he was deep in thought, but to her eyes he seemed somehow… even more beautiful than usual.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked, admonishing the heavy sound of her voice in the gentle silence, yet glad she had indulged her curiosity. "You look so peaceful."

"Actually, I'm thinking about you," he answered, looking over to stare into her eyes. "I'm asking Him for guidance. Above all else here, I want to keep you safe. I'm praying for you."

"Me?" she asked in surprise. "You don't need to do that," she added as a tender sadness fell over her features. "I… I don't deserve it. For a long time, I've been seeking… redemption… for all the things I've done. There's so much red in my ledger… that I just don't think I can ever really wipe it out."

"You can never truly balance the scales. Have you been seeking redemption… or forgiveness?" he asked her quietly, slowly reaching out to tenderly hold her hand. "You've already been forgiven. You just have to accept it. That's what this season is really all about."

"That may be… difficult," Natasha said with a sad smile.

"Relax," he echoed her words to him from their former mission. "It's not that complicated."

Natasha allowed herself to smile, letting his charm lift her spirits a little. Only this man had the ability to warm her heart, her body and her soul. Raising her hand to the side of his face to feel his warm skin, she leaned over and tenderly placed her customary kiss on his cheek. Natasha lingered against him for a long moment, staying close to him, before she stood and prepared to turn in for the night.

"Merry Christmas, Steve," she said with a gentle smile.

"Merry Christmas, Natasha," he softly called after her.

The two of them parted with an unspoken reluctance. Like at the cemetery so long ago, she still had to remind herself not to look back at him. The attraction between them was simply too strong, and it was growing more so with every moment they spent together on this island.

Unbeknownst to either of them, their distance apart would leave them in deadly danger tonight.


End file.
